Chris Cuomo: The Career Of America's Toughest Anchor

Christopher Charles Cuomo is an accomplished television journalist and anchor. He works for CNN as the host of Cuomo Prime Time, a weekly news analysis show.

Chris is an accomplished journalist who has reported from active war zones and was even the target of an IED explosion in Iraq. His outstanding work in journalism has earned him many awards throughout his career.

Early Life

Chris was born on August 9, 1970, in Queens. It is one of the boroughs of New York, where his father Mario Cuomo was the Governor. His mother Matilda Cuomo served as the First Lady and is an advocate for women and children. Chris attended The Albany Academy, a preparatory day school. He gained an undergraduate degree from Yale University and gained a Juris Doctor (J. D.) from Fordham University.

Chris grew up in a well off family and had a comfortable early life. He never particularly had to struggle and received education from private schools until he joined an elite university.

Career

Chris is alicensed lawyer and has long since served as an analyst and as a consulting expert for legal and political discussions. Chris walked in his family’s footsteps and sought to make a career in politics as well. He served as political policy analyst for Fox News and was often a consultant on CNBC, MSNBC and CNN.

Initially, Chris worked as an anchor at ABC and also co-anchored the show 20/20. He did year-long research on suburban families that struggled with heroin addiction. He also covered subjects like Haiti Earthquake, nonprofits etc. At one point a tip from a BMW owner in his show caused the company to recall almost 150,000 cars that were affected by a defect. With solid experience, Cuomo then made his way to Good Morning America.

Here, he had assignments in almost 10 countries. He covered the war on terrorism in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq while abroad and incidents like the Virginia Tech shooting, Hurricane Katrina and the Sago mine collapse incident at home.

In February 2013, Chris moved to CNNto co-host their morning show. While serving as a co-anchor, it was announced that Cuomo would be given his own show, Cuomo Prime Time. Currently, Chris is working on CNN where he hosts Cuomo Prime Time and also does a weekday two-hour radio show Let's Get After It on SiriusXM.

Awards And Accolades

Chris was awarded the Peabody award for outstanding reporting. He is also one of the youngest correspondents to be awarded a News Emmy in network news history.

Besides these, he has also been awarded the Polk award, a prestigious annual award given to outstanding journalists. He has also received the Loeb Award for business reporting, Edward R Murrow Award for breaking news coverage and the American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award for investigating juvenile justice.

IED Incident

During an assignment in Iraq under Good Morning America, a convoy that was escorting Cuomo had a close encounter with an IED (Improvised Explosive Device). The device exploded, damaging the vehicle he was traveling in and escort vehicles that were trailing closely. Fortunately, no one was gravely injured in the explosion.

Speaking about the incident, Cuomo talked with Good Morning America,

“There were bodies on the side of the road. Those bodies turned out to be booby-trapped. They were an improvised explosive device, a massive one. It rocked the entire vehicle, blew out the tires on two of the vehicles, destroyed much of the glass, rocked the vehicles in a very, very big way. A piece of shrapnel was almost stopped by this armored door. It came within fractions of an inch of going through the entire vehicle”

Cuomo went on to praise the soldiers involved in the blast and said they were brave and calm and saved his life. The convoy was traveling to Gazalea, a dangerous part of Baghdad. Here they were initially attacked by small arms fire before coming up on the booby-trapped IED.

Married Life

Chris married Christina Greeven in 2001. They were dating for over a year when they tied the knot. The wedding observed Roman Catholic traditions. With Christina, he has 3 children. His son was named after Chris’s father, Mario. He has two daughters, Bella Cuomo and Carolina Regina Cuomo.

Divorce Rumors

In mid-2018, reports surfaced online, claiming that CNN journalist Chris Cuomo was on the verge of a divorce. Married for 17 years with three kids, the reports claimed that Chris and his wife Christina Greeven were struggling to make their marriage work.

This was not the first time doubt had been cast on Chris’s marriage. In 2005, rumors surfaced that his marriage was already on the rocks. The rumors claimed that Chris was putting his professional life before his personal life. Some even claimed Chris was a closeted homosexual. These insidious rumors were put to rest however, Chris and Christina are still happily married and look after their three children. Gossip has always followed those in the limelight but the family has weathered on through it.

Net Worth, Salary And Income Sources

It is estimated that Chris earns approximately $2.5 million a year through his anchoring programs. He is one of the highest paid news anchors in the world and represents CNN. His net worth is estimated at around $7.5 million.

Besides his prime time show, Chris also makes money from radio programs and the various consultancy work he does for news networks.

Online Presence

Chris Cuomo uses Twitter to communicate with his 1.32 million followers. He uses the platform to express his political opinions. He is also active on Facebook and Instagram. However, he uses Instagram strictly to share his personal life.

Heated Debates

Throughout his career, he has been involved in exchanges with many politicians. His heated conversation with Trump counselor Kellyane Conway gained a lot of media attention. Conway and Cuomo have sparred on live television multiple times.

Beside Conway, he has frequently criticized the Donald Trump presidency and has interviewed plenty of politicians such as Sarah Sanders, Nancy Pelosi, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez etc. His tough demeanor has gained him a lot of praise from people of both left and right leanings. Rolling Stone magazine called him America's toughest anchor in an article from early 2018.

Personal Life

Chris is a fitness fanatic. He goes to the gym regularly and posts pictures and motivation for his followers. Chris is 48 years old, his wife is a year older than him. Currently, they reside in Manhattan. He owns two dogs named Tenessee and Alabama and posts small clips of them on his Instagram page.